Inaugural Address of Thomas Poon, Ph.D., 17th President of LMU: Hope, Made Here

Thank you, Trustee and Board Chair Viviano.

Good afternoon.

Picture a man in his late thirties at a dining table. His heart is racing. To say he's nervous is like saying Taylor Swift has a few fans. Across from him sits his interview panel, possibly enjoying his discomfort. Each panelist stands no taller than five feet, yet somehow they tower over him. He stumbles through small talk, searching for courage, and finally blurts out the question that reveals the true purpose of his visit. Success! My future in-laws give me their blessing to ask for their daughter's hand in marriage–they even say "thank you." True story!

As consequential as my question was to them and, of course, to my future wife, their question back to me was equally pivotal. It was eight fateful words that still echo in my heart. They asked, "Tom, have you ever thought of becoming Catholic?"

That invitation, and my very quick "yes, " set me on a trajectory that would ultimately lead to Loyola Marymount University. Here, the charisms of our founding religious orders, the Congregation of St. Joseph of Orange, the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, and the Society of Jesus, guide us to seek God in all things, to make God known and loved so that all may have life, and to be mindful of the diverse and unmet needs of the dear neighbor. It is this enduring union of three religious orders and our steadfast commitment to their legacies that make LMU truly distinct among Catholic universities.

And what began as an invitation to faith is now a legacy that I have the privilege and responsibility to uphold. A legacy sustained by faculty who believe that research and education transform lives, by students who learn for themselves and for the world they will change, and by alumni who advance our mission across continents and cultures. A legacy built by those who dreamed boldly and served selflessly, like LMU's emeriti presidents here today: Father Robert Lawton of the Society of Jesus, David Burcham, and Timothy Law Snyder. Please join me in thanking them for their visionary leadership and enduring influence.

Every legacy lives in tension with the moment it enters, and today that moment is one of profound uncertainty. Across the nation, colleges and universities are navigating demographic shifts, technological transformation, political polarization, and questions about the value of a college degree. The world around us is changing at a breathtaking pace. And yet, the need for institutions like ours has never been greater.

Honoring our legacy begins with hope. Hope isn't passive. It is, as the Jesuits say, "contemplatives in action." Hope rolls up its sleeves and asks, "What's the work we need to do to make things happen?"

So in that vein, I'd like to share my three hopes for LMU. Hopes that meet the challenges of the moment, turn "someday" into "let's begin, " and remind us that our best chapters are still being written.

My first hope: LMU will expand access and open doors.

We must make an LMU education attainable for every talented student called to our mission. And once they're here, ensure they have every opportunity to thrive. This opportunity is woven into how we teach, learn, and live our mission. It's embodied in our teacher-scholar model, which integrates rigorous research with the personal, transformative work of teaching and mentoring.

Few universities can do what LMU does. At some institutions, research often eclipses teaching; at others, heavy teaching loads limit scholarship. But LMU stands in the sweet spot, where research deepens teaching, and teaching inspires research. Our faculty pursue bold ideas, publish internationally recognized work, and still know their students by name.

Names like Max Isi, who came to LMU from Uruguay with big dreams and a modest budget. A donor's scholarship and faculty mentors like Professor of Physics Jonas Mureika opened doors: to research, to discovery, to a vocation. Max was a double major in physics and mathematics and did undergraduate research all four years at LMU. Today, Max is an assistant professor of astronomy at Columbia University. In 2021, Max led the team that detected gravitational waves produced by the collision of two black holes, confirming some of Einstein's and Stephen Hawking's theories. I could really geek out right now about singularities, event horizons, and the movie Interstellar, but let me just summarize: one generous donor's scholarship was the key; LMU faculty opened the door; and an LMU student-turned-alum blew the door off its hinges with his scientific breakthrough.

Max shared with me that he widely credits his success to LMU, including the formation he received outside the laboratory. Max also minored in Asian Pacific Studies, studied abroad in the UK, was in the Honors Program, published in its journal, Attic Salt, took German and history classes "for fun, " and was inducted into Alpha Sigma Nu, the International Jesuit Honor Society.

Max is Hope, Made Here. That hope is made accessible through philanthropy and scholarships. The Kilroy Foundation scholarship Max received has provided 20 students from Argentina and Uruguay the opportunity to study here at LMU. We have nearly 550 four-year, donor-funded scholarships, and those scholarship recipients graduate at a rate 7% higher than that of our general student population and 21% higher than the national average.

As president, I will work tirelessly to strengthen the foundation that makes stories like Max's possible; to expand access and open doors for deserving students, to invest in our teacher-scholars, and to deepen the formation of students who transform promise into purpose.

My second hope: LMU will build bridges between our campuses and our communities.

LMU is a nexus, a hub where different paths converge. I've already mentioned three of those convergences: the charisms of our three sponsoring religious orders, which ground us in our mission.

This nexus is amplified by where we live, teach, and serve. In Los Angeles, the creative capital of the world, imagination is currency, innovation is habit, and storytelling shapes the human experience. We share our backyard with sectors that define the future: aerospace, international trade, entertainment, professional sports, law, public service, sustainability, healthcare, biotech, and the Silicon Beach corridor: home to A.I., gaming, entrepreneurship, and the LMU Playa Vista campus.

We are a Catholic university in the largest archdiocese in the nation, rooted in a city where faith meets diversity on a scale that mirrors the global Church itself. Los Angeles is the epicenter of what many call the Pacific Century, an era shaped by the interplay of cultures, languages, religions, creativity, and ideas that define the region. And just down the road, one of the world's busiest airports connects us to nearly every major city on the planet.

These are the connections that converge at LMU, each one shaping who we are, where we are, and how we serve. And because I believe education is the ultimate sector that will define the future, LMU will serve to bridge and integrate these worlds.

We will do so by animating our mission, partnering outward for maximum impact to serve both our students and our communities.

Our partnership with the Los Angeles Rams is a shining example of how LMU has created opportunities for our students to learn, lead, and contribute inside one of the most innovative organizations in professional sports. Since 2023, more than 1, 300 LMU students across all our schools and colleges have had firsthand experiences through class lectures, nearly 200 internships and mentorships, and immersion days, in areas like marketing, sports medicine, communications, data analytics, design, and community relations. Thanks to the Rams, that's 1, 300 LMU students who didn't just watch excellence from the stands–they became part of it.

We will harness our location as our advantage, leveraging our proximity to creativity, commerce, and culture to offer our students experiences only LMU can provide: internships, collaborations, and learning environments that connect our Jesuit and Marymount mission to the pulse of Los Angeles and beyond.

We are blessed with partners, including civic leaders, corporations, and nonprofits, who believe in our mission and who collaborate with us to yield campus engagements like Rams Training Camp, the annual LMU Innovation Symposium, the Social Impact Filmmaking Lab, and the LA Area Chamber Business and Education Innovation Summit.

I am excited to share a new partnership that we are launching. Thanks to LMU faculty, admin leaders, and to Father Steve Katsouros, a member of our Jesuit community, founder of Arrupe College in Chicago, and president of the nonprofit Come to Believe, LMU will partner with Homeboy Industries to launch a credit-bearing certificate program in two initial areas: business management and social services, fields that LMU alum and Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee, Father Greg Boyle, and his remarkable team at Homeboy have identified as vital to the transformation and healing of their community. These programs will create pathways to higher education for those who have been historically excluded, combining academic formation with the holistic support that Homeboy has modeled for decades. This partnership affirms the God-given potential in every person and embodies what Father Greg so often reminds us, that "no one stands outside the circle of compassion."

And today, I'm honored to announce one more example of this vision coming to life. LMU will serve as the official high-performance center for Team USA at the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. At the high-performance center, USA athletes will be able to access resources they can't get in the Olympic Village; to train with their personal coaches; and receive medical, recovery, mental health, and nutritional services right here on the LMU campus, demonstrating once again that excellence is rooted in community and that Hope, Made Here, belongs on the global stage.

My third hope: LMU will form leaders through Ignatian excellence.

"Ignatian excellence" may not be familiar to everyone here today, but it captures something at the very heart of who we are, and who I hope we continue to become. It begins with a man named Iñigo López de Loyola, who lived in Spain five centuries ago. Iñigo was a soldier until a cannonball shattered his leg and, in many ways, his worldview. During his long recovery, he began reading about the lives of Christ and the saints. And as he read, he discovered that the greatest victories are not won on the battlefield, but within the human heart.

That wounded soldier became Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, whose gifts of spiritual insight would reshape education and leadership worldwide. Out of his own conversion came a new way of seeing God in all things, a new way of discerning purpose, and a new way of forming leaders, one that unites intellect with reflection and hope with action.

Those gifts, Ignatian pedagogy, Ignatian spirituality, and Ignatian discernment, have shaped my own life and leadership. They were given to me through my Catholic education, through my conversion to the faith, and through my formation here at LMU: in the Ignatian Colleagues Program; in the spiritual exercises guided by my dear friend, Father Randy Roche; in my service on the Board of the Beijing Center for Chinese Studies; and through my accompaniment with provosts and presidents across our Jesuit network.

When I say "Ignatian excellence, " I'm referring to an excellence that demands both rigor and reflection; that measures success through alignment with conscience and service; and that seeks God in all things, even in the complexities of modern life.

A wonderful example of this is Alma Backyard Farms, located in Compton and San Pedro, and co-founded by two LMU grads, Erika Cuellar and Richard Garcia. Erika double-majored in Education and Spanish and spent many hours on LMU service trips and other volunteer initiatives. Richard earned a Master's in Pastoral Theology, where he honed his interest in prison ministry and restorative justice. Erika and Richard founded Alma Backyard Farms to address food drought in those communities and to assist formerly incarcerated people in reintegrating into society with hands-on technical education in urban agriculture, carpentry, and landscaping. They frequently host faculty and staff formation days, and they sponsor service opportunities for LMU students through our Pam Rector Center for Service and Action. I've heard many LMU students talk about their impactful experiences at Alma, where they contribute first-hand to restorative justice, environmental stewardship, and community engagement efforts right here in L.A.

My hope is that every member of our LMU community will receive these same gifts that formed Erika and Richard. And I know that Erika and Richard are here today. Let's please show these LMU Lions our thanks and appreciation.

These gifts of Ignatian pedagogy, spirituality, and discernment are also made tangible through the Binational Migrant Advocacy Project at LMU Loyola Law School, under the direction of Marissa Montes, associate clinical professor and director of the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic. In partnership with ITESO, the Jesuit University of Guadalajara, this groundbreaking initiative unites U.S. and Mexican law students to expand legal resources for migrants on both sides of the border. In work like this, Ignatian excellence forms whole persons for and with others, who place their learning at the service of justice.

And if you'll indulge me with one more example, I recently congratulated Professors Jason Baehr and Daniel Speak. They received approximately one million dollars from the Lilly Endowment to cultivate the virtues of curiosity, open-mindedness, intellectual humility, intellectual courage, and intellectual perseverance in our students. Through this grant, the multi-year project provides faculty with workshops and resources to develop Ignatian-inspired courses that emphasize these characteristics and intellectual character formation in our students.

I'm thrilled to share that today, we launch our Mission Priority Examen, a yearlong process of gratitude, reflection, and discernment in partnership with the Society of Jesus. This university-wide effort will be co-chaired by Senior Vice President for Mission John Sebastian, and our Marymount Institute Director and Associate Professor of History, Dr. Elizabeth Drummond, whom I also thank for today's invocation.

Our MPE opportunity and my previous examples are, to me, Ignatian excellence in action, and they give me hope that our students will be formed to lead with conscience, courage, and compassion.

These three hopes: Expanding Access and Opening Doors; Building Bridges Between Our Campus and our Communities; and Forming Leaders Through Ignatian Excellence are not separate ambitions. They are a single integrated vision, and I truly believe if we pursue these hopes with courage and conviction, there is no limit to what Loyola Marymount University can become.

Standing here today, I'm overcome by gratitude for the students, faculty, staff, trustees, regents, and alumni who love this university with every fiber of their being. You are what gives me hope that the challenges facing our world are indeed surmountable. I am equally grateful to our benefactors and philanthropic partners whose generosity makes this hope tangible through scholarships, programs, spaces, and professorships. Your belief in LMU opens doors for our students and allows our mission to flourish.

Many thanks to the Inauguration Committee and everyone who worked so hard to bring this celebration to life: your creativity, attention to detail, and care for our guests and our university have made this past week one that I will never forget.

I am also incredibly grateful to the delegates from institutions near and far for joining us today. I especially thank my fellow presidents from our Jesuit sibling institutions: Presidents Salvador Aceves, Kimo Ah Yun, Father Scott Hendrickson, Katia Passerini, and Marc Nemec from my alma mater, Fairfield University. To the delegates from the West Coast Conference universities who are here today, thank you for your shared commitment to our student-athletes both in competition and in our classrooms. We are proud to be your partner, and of course, we fully intend to defeat you as often as possible. LMU, you know what to say on three…1-2-3, Go Lions!

I offer a special shout-out to President Ann McElaney Johnson of Mount Saint Mary's University. As the only two Catholic Universities in Los Angeles and neighboring counties, our future partnerships will assure that Catholic higher education remains a force for good in our region.

I owe a special debt of thanks to the people who had a hand in my formation as a teacher and scholar. Thank you to my scientific collaborators and co-authors who are here today: Dr. Tracy McGill from Emory University, Dr. Oiyan Poon, and Professor Katie Purvis-Roberts. And thank you to my scientific mentors, Christopher Foote, Bradford Mundy, and Nicholas Turro, who are no longer with us but whose groundbreaking research was only surpassed by the extraordinary measure of their humanity.

Thank you to my friends and science colleagues from the Claremont Colleges here today. Kersey, Emily, Katie, Mary, Gretchen, Shana, Karl, and Jennifer, you embody what it means to be true teacher-scholars. I am better for having worked alongside you.

Thank you to LMU's cabinet members, deans, and senior leaders. You are an amazing team that I wouldn't trade for anything. You inspire me and make me want to work harder every day. Thank you to my colleagues across our colleges and schools, with a special shout-out to the College of Business Administration, as you celebrate your 100th anniversary.

Thank you to our representatives in state and local government who are here today. As the university that traces its roots back to St. Vincent's College, the first higher ed institution in Los Angeles in 1865, we have a solemn responsibility to serve this great city. Thank you, Mayor Karen Bass, and thank you to our LMU alumni, State Senator Lena Gonzalez, Councilmember Traci Park, and LA Area Chamber President Maria Salinas, for your leadership. Thank you, Tony Coelho, LMU alum, former 6-term U.S. Congressman, and primary author of the Americans with Disabilities Act, for sharing your amazing LMU journey with us and, most importantly, for your friendship. And thank you, Archbishop Gomez, Reverend Sean Carroll, Father Eddie Siebert, Sister Mary Genino, and Sister Mary Beth Ingham. Please consider me part of your flock, ready to serve when called.

Finally, I thank my family for a lifetime of encouragement and support.

First and foremost, to Jack and Tina Poon, my mom and dad, who are here today and who made the brave move to immigrate to the U.S. in 1969. Somehow, they understood the power of Catholic education and put my brother and me through Catholic schools, working long hours in the restaurant business for more than twenty years so their sons wouldn't have to. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for your courage, your love, and every sacrifice that brought me here.

To my late father-in-law, John Irwin, and to my mother-in-law, Angeles Irwin: thank you for saying "yes, " and for inviting me to share in your faith tradition. Many thanks as well to Shelly, Jill, Jennifer, and Mike, my sisters and brother from another mother (my in-laws). I'm honored to be part of your family. I'm also honored that so many of my cousins and my uncle Paul are here today.

To Alex, my brother from the same mother: thank you for being my best friend, and for not sharing any embarrassing moments about me in my biography video.

Thank you to my wife, Cathy, and my daughter, Sophie. SPoon, your art, music, and humor are peak awesome, as your generation might say. Dr. Cathy Irwin, you are truly an inspiration. When the Jesuits talk about seeing God in all things, I think of you and the way your book on orphans incarcerated during WWII allowed generations of Japanese Americans to know their ancestors; I think of your 19 years as a teacher-scholar at the University of LaVerne, where you are now an emerita professor; and I think of how you are the rock for our family, including to our dog Calypso, whom you trained to see you as the alpha and me as the omega. I see God working in YOU every day. Thank you for being my soul mate and for your love that sustains me.

There are so many more I could thank, but my staff told me I only get one inauguration, not a 2-day festival. So let me close by saying that LMU's next chapter is not for any one leader to write alone. I ask each of you to claim a share of that work: boldly, generously, and with the confidence that our moment demands. Because this next chapter will be written by all of us. Each of you holds the pen. Each of you is part of the story. And together, we will write the next chapter of Loyola Marymount University: one filled with purpose, possibility, and hope, made here. Thank you, God bless you, and God bless Loyola Marymount University!